I spent about 30 years interviewing musicians the old-fashioned way: talking on the phone, transcribing the tape (and then, eventually, the digital recording) and turning it all into a story or Q&A. Then scaling came Now I can actually see the people I’m talking to – and I can just play the video YouTube and done with it. Yes, I know I have a face made for radio, a voice made for pantomime, and no broadcasting skills. Fortunately, many of you were willing to put up with all that to see and hear these artists. Of the several dozen interviews I’ve done so far this year, here are the ones that got the most attention (based on total page views and YouTube opinions):
1 | Andy Schauf
A many songwriters like to think of themselves as storytellers. Andy Schauf truly deserves the title. Over the past half-dozen years, the Saskatchewan-raised, Toronto-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has made a name for himself with narrative concept albums like 2016’s. The party and the 2020s Neon skyline. With his eighth album normSchauf raises the bar again with a beautifully creepy tale of romance, obsession and misplaced faith influenced by the pandemic, true crime TV and David Lynch‘c Mulholland Drive, among other things. For my money, this is the more compelling work of his career thus far – which is saying something if you’ve heard his other albums, and all the more impressive for a disc that wasn’t meant to be a concept album in the first place. A few weeks before the album arrived, Schauf scalingcame in to talk about his literary aspirations, as norm on the road, is everything okay, etc.
2 | Fat Mike from NOFX & The Punk Rock Museum
Wellat Mike’s maybe not the hardest working guy in show business. But he’s definitely one of the busiest dudes in punk rock. First and foremost, of course, he fronted the irreverent band NOFX for four decades. But he’s also part of a great new band Co-accused and the supergroup cover band Me first and Gimme Gimmes. He runs the punk label Fat Wreck Chords and the new Bottles to the ground imprint. And he’s a serial entrepreneur who’s owned gastropubs, vacation homes, marijuana dispensaries, and more. But his latest venture may be his biggest yet – the new one Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. Shortly after opening day, the irrepressible, hilariously dirty Mike boarded the scaling let’s talk about the museum Joe Strummerhis mom’s last bag of weed, his mom’s sex tips, and whatever else popped into his head, really. Be warned: it’s NSFW.
3 | Steel panther bag
Like I’ve said before, I’m pretty sure I was the first Canadian journalist to interview Steel panther. Shortly after the release of their absurdly unpleasant 2009 debut Feel The SteelI spoke to the front man Michael Starr — supposedly while he was at the doctor being treated for a sexually transmitted disease. Nearly 15 years (and who knows how many STDs) later, the clown princes of LA sleaze-rock haven’t changed their tune one bit. On their sixth album Hunting, they’re still churning out metal odes about sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (but mostly sex). Clearly, it was about time we checked back in with the restless dirty musical comedians. So I have a guitarist and a main songwriter bag to scaling from their mother’s basement in Las Vegas to discuss three-word album titles, tiny guitars, the importance of being offended, tattooing your face on your ass, and much, much more. This one is also NSFW – as if you didn’t know.
4 | Ron Sexsmith
Rof Sexsmith it’s right at home these days. In more ways than one. In the truest sense of the word, the veteran Canadian singer-songwriter says he’s finally settled down and embraced the quiet life in rural Ontario, where he moved back a few years after decades in Toronto. On a more personal note, the 59-year-old artist says he also feels more comfortable in his own skin and the state of his career. You can hear that satisfaction and maturity in every groove on his 17th album The Vivian line. Named after a road near his house, which he considers the dividing line between his old and new life, the album combines wistful romantic ballads with carefree, native stories of country life. A few weeks before he arrived, Sexsmith scalingI came in from—where else? — his home to discuss his Luddite tendencies, turning 60, partying with him Kim Cattrall and much more.
5 | Miesha Louie of Miesha & The Spanks
MIesha and The Spanks they always packed a punch. But the Calgary garage-rock duo just released the most successful album of their career. This will be their new album Unconditional love in Hi-Fiwhich finds a singer-guitarist Miesha Louie digging deep and getting personal with songs about her father’s death, the generational trauma of boarding schools, trying to balance new motherhood and her career, her work with a girls’ rock camp, and more. Even better: Her and the drummer Sean Hamilton pair these heavy lyrics with some of the band’s heaviest songs to date. A few days before the album dropped and The Spanks I’m back on track, Miesha scalingentered into discussion Unconditional lovethe joy of the drop-D setup, Game of Thrones podcasts, etc.
6 | Bob Rock
bob Rock he might just be the most important Canadian in the music industry. He is certainly one of the most productive and successful. He has produced, worked and performed with an incredible roster of artists from Vancouver bands such as Young Canadians, DOA and his own Payola$ for global superstars like Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, The generation and more. But his latest release may be the most personal and heartfelt work of his career. Perfect shine is a collection of recordings Rock has made over a decade Tragically Hip frontman Gordon Downey, and completed after the singer’s untimely death in 2017. More than just some frivolous side project, it’s an album that finds both artists stepping out of their artistic comfort zones and experimenting with everything from ’70s glam rock to 80s synth-pop and more – and create a monumental and exciting masterpiece in the process. After feeding horses from his truck in Maui, Rock boarded the scaling to discuss their labor of love, their early days in Winnipeg, who they want to work with next and more.
7 | Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton
Sfear of fish and Jesse Dayton are proof that sometimes one plus one adds up to much more than two. Both are now respected singers and guitarists with solid, successful solo careers. But when they recently put their heads, hands and hearts into their first album together Death Wish Blues, they came out with one of the best blues-rock releases of the year. Produced by garage-punk wild man and Blues explosion leader John Spencer, Death Wish Blues is a raw, daring and raucous affair, with Fish and Dayton trading phrases and lyrics over a set of heavy, hell-raising and sonically adventurous songs that just don’t stop. A few weeks before the album dropped, they took to the scaling from their homes in Kansas and Texas to discuss A death wishworking with Spencer and as Mickey and Mallory Knox of guitarists.
8 | Deborah Iyall of Romeo Void
echased everyone it only took nine words to become a rock star: “I might like you more if we slept together.” That refrain from Romeo Emptinessthe sharp 1981 breakthrough single Never say never catapulted the young San Francisco group into the mainstream. Their meteoric career was short-lived – after making three albums, Romeo Emptiness broke up in 1985, and after a poorly received solo album in 1986, Iyall went back to school and eventually became an art teacher. But now she’s taking a walk down memory lane, thanks to the new Romeo Emptiness album Live from Mabuhay Gardens November 14, 1980which documents wounded, pre-Never say never the band’s club show. Shortly before the LP arrived for Record Store Dayeverything scalingcame in to talk about old times, recognition in the classroom, her local heritage and more.
9 | Marty Stewart
Martistic Stewart has been flying high in country and roots music for decades. But with his latest album Altitude, the restlessly creative singer-guitarist takes it up another notch. Conceived and written while he and his longtime band Great superlatives were making a backup Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman on Byrds on a reunion tour a few years ago, Stewart’s latest studio album finds the Nashville icon heading west again, embracing raucous California folk-rock, along with some surfer strumming and Bakersfield honky-tonk thrown in for good measure. From somewhere on the endless road, Stuart scalingcome in to talk Altitudethe state of country music, his vast collection of memorabilia and more – and even played a tune of Jimmy Rogers‘ guitar.
10 | Kevin Hearn
KEvin Hearn hearts of the 80s. But probably not in the way you’d expect. The naked ladies latest outclass version of utility player I’m dreaming of the 80s — a joint effort with a violinist Hugh Marsh — rethinks a diverse list of I Decade musical gems from artists like Tom Petty, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, Billy Idol, Tom Waits, Bob Marley, Sun Ra and more, including Hearn’s old boss and musical hero Lou Reed. But instead of recreating the songs in all their pastel, shoulder-padded glory, the Canadian duo take a more nuanced and idiosyncratic approach, deconstructing and reassembling the songs into dark, ethereal and, yes, dreamy synth-pop. The day before the album was released, Hearn scalingdropped in from his Toronto digs to talk life with Lou, future dreams, his teenage basement tapes and more.